It may seem that Spring was slow to arrive on the fen this year but the spring migrants tell a different story. Swallows made a first appearance 4th April, although I did spot one at Stretham the day before. The previous year I first recorded them on the 9th and in 2017 it was on the 21st. House Martin were similar in their arrival.
Swifts were recorded on May 14th, four days earlier than the previous year. My first Wheatear was on the 4th April, nearly a whole month earlier than 2018 and Yellow Wagtail were present on the on the same date in 2019 and 2018! My first Cuckoo was 3 days later than 2018 and 5 days later than 2017.
Other than that little to report really. Few waders passed through although the fen looked quite inviting for them. A few Redshank and a single Greenshank have put in brief appearances.
End of April saw us in Extremadura, my third visit in recent years and Debbie's first. The weather, in general, was ideal for walking which was our main aim. We undertook fourday long walks in the general area of Seirra de Montanchez. Each walk passed through numerous Nightingale territories and we heard but sadly did not see Golden Oriole. Good views were had of Black Vulture and Griffon.
We did take a couple of days off from walking, one to visit the Roman remains at Merida which were splendid. We drove back via Vegas Atlas, which in previous years was used for rice and so was very attractive for waders. Sadly they seem to be using the area for fruit and so proved to be a fruitless trip, producing nothing at all!
We did drive across to Campo Lugar and had excellent views of Great Bustard, Rollers and a female Montague Harrier.
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| Great Bustard |
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| Great Bustard |
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| Gull-billed Tern |
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| Roller |
Beginning of May saw me off to The Camargue for a first time visit. Based in Saint Gillies I spent five days exploring the various reserves in the area and driving the country roads that passed through fields flooded for the growing of rice.
It was certainly an interesting area and it was good to see such large numbers of Flamingos.
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| Flamingo |
Highlight of the visit was the eleven Honey Buzzard hat passed over one evening while I was searching for Pratincole.
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| One of eleven Honey Buzzard that passed over as a group |
A total of 100 species were recorded with two lifers; Slender-billed Gull, and Whiskered Tern.
During the visit also had the best view of Wild Boar and Coypu that I've ever had.
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| Wild Boar |
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| Coypu and young |
A full report of this visited can be found at:
The Camargue Trip: May 2019
Further images from this trip can be seen at:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/fenlandbirder/albums/72157707090573671
